


Paperwork + Parenting

by sassysarcasticlove



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Mac acting like a teenager, Matty's and Jack's epic coparenting, Papa Jack, Paperwork, Spoilers for s01e17: Hook, Team as Family, a lot of it, also because this is my fic, and mac's crappy childhood/parental issues manifest the way i say they do, between 117 and 209, cause have you seen season one?, mama matty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 16:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15867681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassysarcasticlove/pseuds/sassysarcasticlove
Summary: Mac learns one difference between Matty and Thornton the hard way.Or improvising is one thing, but this is ridiculous and Matty refuses to let it stand.





	Paperwork + Parenting

“Matty, can I have a moment please?” Matty narrowed her eyes but followed Jack into the abandoned hallway.

“Look, Jack,” Matty began, “I know he’s your partner. I know he was doing what he thought was right. But he disobeyed my direct order! It was reckless and stupid, and it has to stop.”

“I’m not asking you to let it slide. You think I’m not mad at the kid too? I’m mad as hell! But I’m asking you to let me handle it. Keep it off the books. I’ll take him home, give him a good, sharp talking-to, let him sleep on it, and he’ll come in and apologize in the morning. I promise.

Matty sighed. “I’m sure he will, Jack, but will he actually change anything? Maybe when you were his sergeant, you could scare some sense into the kid, but he’s awfully used to a Jack Dalton lecture by now.”

Now it was Jack’s turn to sigh. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Maybe you’re right, Matty. I just…” he trailed off. Matty’s voice softened.

“I’ll keep it off the books, Jack, deal with him myself.” Jack searched her eyes. When he spoke, his tone was measured.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Paperwork.” The corner of Jack’s mouth twitched upwards. “He can stay late this week until he learns to take insubordination a little more seriously. I’ll call you when he’s ready to be picked up tonight, and you can do the talking.” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not usually one to compromise, Matilda.”

“Well, I think we can agree that Macgyver is hardly a usual case.”  
___

Mac looked up when Matty and Jack reentered, his eyes immediately going to Jack’s face where he stood on the side, arms crossed. If Matty had pulled rank on Jack and sent him home, he would have expected her to enter alone. But if Jack had successfully pleaded Mac’s case (which Mac knew would NOT mean that he wasn’t still in for the lecture of his life), why was Jack’s face so grim?

“Angus Macgyver.” Mac shifted slightly in his seat. Matty had been cool and professional for the rest of the mission, during the debrief, and when she’d sent Bozer and Riley home. Now, her voice had become hard and biting, her fury evident in every inch of her posture. “You directly disobeyed a direct order today, did you not?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“In doing so, you disregarded protocol and placed yourself in significant danger, did you not?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Furthermore, you placed your team in danger by forcing them to act without complete information or proper consideration and forced Agent Dalton to risk a kill shot, did you not?”

Silence and the first flicker of guilt out of Macgyver.

“Did you not?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“In light of that, Agent Macgyver, you will remain in this building until I give you permission to leave for as many days as I see fit. During that time, you will complete and file paperwork to the best of your ability. If I am satisfied, there will be no official reprimand and this incident will not go in your file. Is that understood?”

Macgyver, whose eyes had been growing wider as she talked, turned to his partner for help. “Jack?”

“She asked you a question, Hoss.”

Mac gulped and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jack and Matty exchanged a nod, and Jack turned to go. “I’ll be back to pick you up when you’re done.” He was leaving? Just like that? And since when did Jack take the boss’s side against Mac? A small rebellious part of him wondered if they were right, if maybe he had taken improvising too far this time. But he pushed the thought away. He improvised every day, and sometimes it was dangerous. They knew that. And today it had worked!

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Matt’s footsteps moving towards the door and realizing he was expected to follow.

She led him to his desk- no surprise there- and with a pointed look, indicated for him to sit. He did so, and she left him alone for a minute. When she returned, she was carrying a stack of paper nearly eight inches thick. He held her gaze as she placed it in front of him, pulled a pen from the drawer, and picked up the first form. As it became clear she was not leaving, he slowly dropped his eyes and began writing. After a few minutes, she said, “I’ll be in my office,” and left.

Mac sighed. He didn't know when the last time he’d actually been punished for one of his many transgressions in the field by his superiors was. It wasn’t like he cared about those ‘official warnings’. Jack yelled sometimes, of course, even enlisted Bozer and took his coffee for a week or so if he got really mad. (Mac wasn’t stupid. It did occur to him that he was fully capable of buying his own coffee outside Jack’s control, but he wasn’t really in the mood to dive into his Stockholm Syndrome at the present moment.)

The time dragged by. He had never known it to pass so slowly within these walls. After an hour, he paused to stretch his hand. After two, he was massaging his hand every ten minutes. And by three, Mac was remembering that he hadn’t actually eaten since lunch, and with the adrenaline of the mission wearing off, he was seriously considering a trip to the vending machine. If he wasn’t afraid that any attempt to move from his desk would cause Matty to suddenly appear.  
____

Matty returned to her desk after leaving Mac to his task. She sank into her chair, worn out and still seething. Her mind kept replaying hearing Riley’s “Dammit, Mac!” over the radio and what had followed. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and reached over to pull up the security camera feed on her desktop monitor. Settling in with her tablet, Matty prepared herself for a long night.

Several hours later, just as Matty was considering whether the left over half of her lunch would be worth the walk to the break room fridge, a thought occurred to her. When had Macgyver last eaten? She knew he and the team had gotten lunch while conducting surveillance, but that would have been nearly nine hours ago. Plus, knowing Mac, he probably hadn’t finished his. And then they’d likely planned to go back to the house for dinner.

She had meant to punish the kid but not cruelly. She knew Angus would never complain, and a part of her grumbled that he deserved it. Still, looking at the lone figure in an empty office, Matty reached for the phone, and twenty minutes later, she was walking down to meet the driver at the door.

Mac looked up in surprise as she dropped the pizza box unceremoniously in front of him, carefully avoiding the piles of paper despite the little voice that said it would serve him right to do some of it over.

Matty rolled her eyes at his confused expression. “Eat.”

He did, hesitantly and without stopping his work, but she could see he was hungry.

Pulling out a slice for herself, Matty settled herself across from him with her tablet. Every so often, she glanced up at him. It didn’t take long after he’d eaten, for his hand to begin to slow and his head to start dropping towards the desk. He would always jerk himself up and renew his efforts on the paper, but soon enough exhaustion would threaten to overcome him again.

Finally, Matty stood and walked over to him. He hardly seemed to notice her approach, but when she placed her hand on his shoulder, he looked up at her with almost mournful eyes through strands of blond hair that had fallen in front of his face.

“I’m sorry, Matty. I’ll stay awake, I promise.”

“It’s okay, Mac. Maybe it’s time for you to go home.”

“No! I can-”

“Shh. It’s okay.” Actually, she had already texted Jack half an hour earlier, and by now, he should be just about to Phoenix.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I know you and Jack are mad. I was just trying to stop them from destroying those books. I’m sorry, Matty.” She rubbed his shoulder.

“I know you are, Mac. Let’s get you home, okay?” Mac nodded sleepily.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again.

____

Jack was still mad when he pulled into the Phoenix parking garage, but he had to admit he did feel a bit more level-headed for having a break. Of course, he still fully intended to give the kid a good tongue-lashing on the way home. And he was fully prepared for Mac to disagree with him; Mac always disagreed with him, always considered his own actions to be perfectly acceptable, and he never made any secret of that fact. Still, by the end of the night, Jack almost always wore him down.

Mac and Matty were waiting for him by the doors. Matty looked as professional as ever, but Mac looked as though he might fall asleep right there. If Jack were less pissed, he might have chuckled. Paperwork always did have that effect on his partner. Jack climbed out of the GTO and walked up to them, his face hard.

“I’m sorry, Jack.” Jack pulled up in shock. That was certainly… unexpected. Whatever Matty had done seemed to have worked.

“Get in the car.” Mac ducked his head and obeyed. Jack turned back to Matty and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged.

“He was his usual self for most of the night, but once he got tired enough, his walls started to break down and he lost a lot of his recalcitrance.” (She didn’t bother to define the word, knowing full well that Jack Dalton only pretended at ignorance for others’ benefit.) “I don’t know how much progress has been made on his future behavior, but he seems genuinely remorseful. At least for scaring us. He hates disappointing you, you know.”

“I know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I gotta say. I usually have to earn that apology with a solid three hour argument.”

Matty gave one of her rare gentle smiles. “You’re not a single parent anymore, Dalton.” Jack answered her smile with one of his own.

“I could get used to that.”

____

Jack looked over at his partner as they pulled onto the highway, considering his options. He knew that their dynamic crossed lines all the time, and that his partner _did_ want him to play that particular role on occasion- not that Mac would admit to it. But this was different than offering unwanted (but very much needed) advice, a strong shoulder, or when necessary, a scolding. Continuing to press the issue, to yell at Mac when he’d already apologized three times by now, well, that left big brother territory in the dust. Shocking as it sounds, Jack Dalton was actually considering curbing his temper and shutting his mouth. But this was the _fourth_ _time_ this _month_ Mac had done something stupid like that, and while it had all worked out the way he wanted, Mac had still spent several agonizing (for Jack anyway) minutes with a drug lord’s knife pressed against his throat.

Matty was right. This wasn’t something they could just let go. If Mac was mad about it, so be it. Their friendship had survived worse fights. Probably.

“Alright,” he growled, “you’ve apologized. Now let me hear some explaining.”

Mac huffed a little. “I already told you, Jack. The mission needed-” Jack slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

“I said explanations, Mac. Not excuses.” There was a minute of silence. Then Mac began again, sounding a little cowed.

“We didn’t have time to find a better way in before they destroyed that evidence.”

“And when they caught you?” That was the issue, really. Usually it was an _if_. Today it was a _when_.

“I knew you could make the shot.” Jack’s knuckles were white. Mac’s voice was steady, as confident as always in what he viewed as Jack’s superhero abilities.

“And if he slit your throat before I could? If there were more men than we thought there were? If the bastard got you at a better angle or was a little shorter and I couldn’t make the shot?”

Mac shrugged a little too flippantly for Jack’s liking. “There’s always an if in this line of work.”

Okaaaay. That he could work with. Jack softened his tone a bit. “I know that there’s always an if, that there’s always a risk of one or both of us coming home in a box. That’s why we’re having this talk, you and me. You gotta learn to stop adding to that risk all the time by doing dumb things.”

Mac took a moment to process. “Like climbing through the window of a drug lord’s study?”

“Exactly.”

“And not wasting the time it would have taken to tell you what I was doing?”

“Not to mention disobeying a direct order from the woman who happens to be both of our bosses in case forgot.”

“Yeah.” Mac gave a soft, breathy chuckle then glance up shyly at Jack. “That too. But-” he frowned. “It worked like a charm. I literally came out without a scratch. Why are you and M- Matty so mad?”

“Because.” Jack chose his words carefully. “We are trying to dissuade you from similar ill begotten ideas in the future. Which may not end so prettily.” Mac nodded, and there was silence the remainder of the drive. He didn’t even react when Jack missed the turn to take him home.

____

 

When they got home, Jack dropped his keys on the counter and headed towards the master bedroom, only to be stopped by a soft “hey, Jack?” He turned. Mac was fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket, and Jack couldn’t help but smile at the image.

“I’ll try not to be so reckless. I mean, I can’t promise I’ll stop. But I’ll try.”

“That’s all we’re asking, kiddo,” Jack replied, feeling the last of his anger finally dissipate, replaced by warmth and affection.“So, you’re not mad I ripped you a new one even after Matty was done tanning your hide and you’d already apologized?” Mac rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye contact.

“No. Just- thanks for not giving up on me. Even though I do stupid stuff.” Jack took a few steps closer to Mac, ducking his head in an attempt to catch the young man’s eye to emphasize his point.

“Now, you listen. I am never, ever going to give up on you. If that means taking off my belt, so be it.” Mac narrowed his eyes at Jack, only about 99% sure the older man was kidding. “And neither is Matty,” he added.

Mac nodded, then yawned. Jack laughed and tugged the kid into a hug, dropping a light kiss on the side of his head. “Goodnight, buddy.”

“Good-”yawn-”goodnight, Jack.” They both stumbled off to their respective rooms (the second bedroom had been Mac’s from the day Jack moved in), and Jack’s last waking thought was that he and Matty still had a long road ahead of them before Mac truly considered his own safety a priority. But their little family would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I was talking to @thethistlegirl on tumblr, (oh, yeah! I'm @sassysarcasticlove on tumblr, come check me out, hit me up to chat) and we talked about the possibility that Mac might act like a rebellious teenager on occasion, because he never really got to go through that phase as a kid. And again, he TOTALLY acts like one in season one at times.  
> Anyway, Mama Matty and Papa Jack are two of my favorite things and I have been needing a coparenting fic for months now. So I finally wrote one.


End file.
